History Favors Home Team In Game 7s

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Heat put together one of the best regular seasons in recent memory thanks in large part to a 27-game winning streak. But it also secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs and that could be a deciding factor on where the Larry O’Brien trophy stays for the next year.

As both the Heat and the San Antonio Spurs get ready for the deciding Game 7 of the NBA Finals, history is firmly on the side of the Heat. The last team to win a NBA Finals Game 7 on the road was the 1978 Washington Bullets who beat the Seattle Supersonics 105-99.

Since then, there have been five Game 7’s in the NBA Finals and each of those has been won by the home team by a margin of six points, according to ESPN.com. In addition, over the last 30 postseasons, home teams are 17-2 in Games 7s in the Conference and NBA Finals.

The only two losses by a home team in a Game 7 of the Conference or NBA Finals were in 2002 when the Sacramento Kings lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and in the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals when the Pistons lost to the Miami Heat.